Heen Kenda Mudalige Chandrarathne vs. The Hon. Attorney General – COURT OF APPEAL NO 313/18-2022

In The Attorney General (on behalf of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka) v. Heen Kenda Mudalige Chandrarathne, the court addressed the issue of whether sentences imposed upon an accused convicted of three counts of grave sexual abuse of a minor should run concurrently or consecutively. It was held that all three sentences should operate concurrently, thereby amending the original cumulative sentence from thirty to ten years’ imprisonment. The judgment reaffirmed the principle that when multiple offences arise out of a single transaction, sentences may properly be ordered to run concurrently. This decision relied on the “single transaction rule” and relevant precedents, emphasizing judicial consistency, proportionality, and fairness in sentencing for related offences.

N. Bandu